US, developing nations criticise WTO proposals on industrial trade

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GENEVA, July 26 (AFP): The United States and prominent developing nations yesterday dampened hopes of swift progress in stuttering global trade talks by sharply criticising proposals for cuts in barriers to industrial goods trade.
The US ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Peter Allgeier, told journalists that the draft compromise text released last week by the chief negotiator on industrial goods was "a reasonable starting point."
However, it did not demand deep enough cuts in import duties charged by emerging nations, Allgeier added on the sidelines of a meeting of the WTO's 150 members.
Meanwhile, emerging and developing nations in a group dubbed NAMA 11 told the meeting that the proposed cuts in industrial tariffs went too far. They said in a statement they were "deeply concerned" about "some basic flaws."
The group warned that they could "not afford to allow an unfair and disproportionate outcome in the round to create massive unemployment and de-industralisation in our countries."
The proposals were aimed at galvanising multilateral trade liberalisation talks under the Doha round, launched in the Qatari capital in late 2001 and which have foundered ever since.
"It's very obvious that there's going to have to be a lot of negotiating because there are rather large differences between the countries as we go into this process," Allgeier said.
Industrialised economies such as the United States and European Union have been seeking easier access to industrial markets in developing countries in exchange for cuts in their own agricultural protection.
The Doha round should have been completed by the end of 2004, but it has been stifled by cross-cutting disagreements between rich and poor countries over the concessions each should make.
The round of talks also covers agricultural trade and services and is meant to improve trade opportunities for poor nations.
Chief negotiator Don Stephenson, Canada's ambassador to the WTO, told the meeting that his proposals on industrial goods were cast in "sculptors clay" and could be reshaped if the 150 trading nations negotiate with each other.
"But at the same time, I don't think we have forever," he commented.
"If we fail in the fall, I think we fail for a long time-I think this thing will drift off into the indefinite future," Stephenson said.
The draft modalities on Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), which cover industrial goods, suggested that 27 developing nations, including Brazil and India, bring import tariffs down to about 19 to 23 per cent.
That is lower than the amounts Brazil and India have so far offered in the deadlocked six-year old Doha development round.
"We think the paper does not have sufficient ambition particularly on those 30 or so advanced developing countries that will be applying the formula," Allgeier said on the sidelines a meeting of the WTO's 150 members.
He said the proposed range of 19 to 23 per cent "does not provide the magnitude of real new market access, not just for us but for other developing countries as well, so we think this has to come down."
Emerging economies said Stepehson's proposals did not meet the aim of building a consensus.
Parallel proposals made last week on agriculture were open to change while those on industry had ignored their demands and appeared to "preclude any real negotiation," the NAMA 11 added.
"The draft text makes developing countries pay first in the NAMA negotiations and requires them to make severe cuts in their industrial tariffs," their statement said.